Astronomical League Live Friday March 6, DAS book club, and satellite insanity

[Aldis Berzins]

HAL members!

ACTION NEEDED -  

See "SATELLITE INSANITY" email from Mid-East Region of the Astronomical League (MERAL) - that is the region our club is in -  within the national Astronomical League (AL who just snail mailed you the awesome Reflector magazine)

If you value dark skies - you can do something about it below - and thanks to some or our members that have already alerted us about the Satellite Insanity.

There is an AL ZOOM tonight! - see link below - and attached.

Also below -  there is a ZOOM presentation coming up this month by author Alex Boxer - A Scheme of Heaven: The History of Astrology and the Search for our Destiny in Data  - brought to you by the Delaware Astronomy Club

Thanks,
HAL ALCOR
Aldis Berzins

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From: MERAL
Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2026 at 08:31:12 PM EST
Subject: Astronomical League Live Friday March 6, DAS book club, and satellite insanity

Greetings MERAL Presidents, ALCors, editors, officers and others,

Please share the below information with your club members, post it to your websites and social media sites, and share as you see fit.

Attached is a graphic for the upcoming Astronomical League Live this Friday, March 6, at 7 pm. You can find a link to watch the live stream on the Astronomical League Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/Astronomical.League 

Also, many of you received the email from the AL home office with Chuck Allen's message about proposals for 50,000 large, light reflecting satellites and an additional million Starlink satellites from Space X. 

I followed the link to the Dark Sky website and followed the instructions to enter comments to the FCC on my concerns with these projects. The process is not difficult but the instructions must be followed carefully and takes about 20 minutes. 

If you want to help preserve dark skies, NOW is the time to act before the March 9m deadline. Please help preserve our night sky from excessive light pollution.


Lastly, below is the announcement about the March Delaware Astronomical Society book club meeting: 

FROM MARY WEBB, DELAWARE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

You and your guests are cordially invited to attend the March meeting of the Delaware Astronomical Society Library Book Club on 

Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 7 PM Eastern Time Via Zoom. 

A Zoom link will be emailed to you in advance of the meeting.

We will discuss 

A Scheme of Heaven: The History of Astrology and the Search for our Destiny in Data 
by Alexander Boxer

Alex Boxer will join us for our meeting.

Alexander Boxer is a data scientist and author. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from MIT, a M.Sc. in the history of science from Oxford, and bachelors degrees in physics and classics from Yale. He is the creator of an interactive online astrolabe which has appeared in museum exhibitions, research publications and public lectures. This online astrolabe was one inspiration for his book, "A Scheme of Heaven", a curious skeptic's history of astrology that recasts astrology as the data-science of the ancient world.

Robyn Arianrhod PhD will lead the meeting.

"And with his lovely prose, Boxer makes it relatively easy to navigate—if not celestially then literarily—around the difficult bits. A journey through Boxer’s own scheme of heaven is one well worth taking."-Katie Hafner, Washington Post

“A vivid narrative...Astrology, Mr. Boxer asserts, was the premodern world’s ‘Big Science,’ at once sophisticated, institutionally supported and sanctioned by sovereigns.” - Alan Hirshfeld, The Wall Street Journal

“A fresh and original introduction to astrology’s long history and deep cultural reach. Open and inquisitive, Boxer combines the critical perspective of a modern data scientist with a historian’s sympathetic eye for telling detail. The result is a vivid and unique delight.” - Stephen Johnston, University of Oxford

The book is available in print, ebook, and audio formats.

Mary Webb
Delaware Astronomical Society Librarian